The State

Oakland police, investigating the murders of four young women and an attack on a fifth, believe that the crimes are linked. "I definitely feel those were done by the same person or people," Lt. Al Perrodin said. But he was reluctant to link those crimes, which occurred between Sept. 16 and Dec. 24, to the discovery over the weekend of an unidentified body in Castro Valley, a killing last month in Richmond and another during August in Emeryville. "There is a remote possibility, but they're different," he said.